Some pictures of Diana and Myself, where we now live and places around us, things that we find interesting, amusing or just plain weird!

Friday, 5 June 2015

And This Is What The Spy Plane Could Be Spying On,

the mock up of China's Type 055 cruiser,

but of course the real thing when it takes to the
water, built to test the Type 055's sophisticated electronics and integrated
stealth mast, the mockup now has major electronic sensors and systems
installed, along with a coat of plan gray paint,

the Type 055 cruiser test rig made its Internet debut in
March 2014 on Chinese websites, with a projected length of 160 to 180 meters,
judging from the test rig's 140 to150 meter length (which does not include the
entire helicopter landing pad nor bow forward of the turret), and a width of
about 21 to 23 meters, it would displace about 12,000 to 14,000 tons, that
would make the Type 055 cruiser the largest Asian surface warship since World
War II's Japanese Tone class heavy cruisers,

the Type 055 cruiser is expected to command Chinese
taskforces, act as the center of fleet air defenses against enemy air attacks,
escort carrier groups and launch barrages of land attack and anti-ship missiles
to project Chinese airpower, judging from its 12,000 to 14,000 ton
displacement, it could carry at least 112 to 128 vertical launch systems (VLS)
cells for missiles, with that amount of firepower, the Type 055 cruiser could
exceed the 122 VLS cells of the USN's Ticonderoga class Aegis Cruisers, the
most obvious addition is the electronics support measures (ESM) mast installed
on top of the integrated mast. ESM is the practise of collecting, processing
and analysing electronic activity by the enemy, in order to improve the performance
of one's electronics, and to calibrate electronic warfare system,

this fanmade CGI shows a variety of weapons that can be
launched from the Type 055's modular VLS, which includes a YJ-18 antiship
missile (left), an HQ-9 long range surface to air missile (third from left),
and CJ-1000 land attack cruise missile (second from right), type 346X radars
may have been installed, though the available photos make it difficult to
ascertain, the Type 346 family of radars have already been installed on the
Type 052D Luyang III destroyers, and are large multipurpose, electronically
scanned radars that are comparable to the U.S.'s SPY-1 radars on Aegis
warships,

the purpose of building such a mockup is to test electronic
interaction/interference between the Type 055's multiple radars, communications
and other electronic equipment in the real world, conducting such tests before
launching the first Type 055 cruiser allows for modifications to the
electronics set up to be more easily changed, as well as on site support from electronics
laboratories, however, the test rig is not an accurate representative of actual
Type 055 layout (the helicopter hangar in the rear has no door, and no
anti-stealth radar has been installed over it, as is the case with the Type
052C and Type 052D destroyers), when the Type 055 cruiser test rig turns on,
the airwaves in Wuhan will get a lot more crowded, once the Chinese launch the
first Type 055 cruiser, the waters in the western Pacific, and around the
world, are also going to get pretty crowded too, the Type 055
cruiser, coming soon to an ocean near you.